Automatic lighter tor stoves



AUTOMATIC LIGHTER FOR STOVES Filed March 50. 1927 mmln mmf-mst @50H65 /7. Tano fiati-interi Apr, 1U, 1928.

NITED STATES GEORG-E M. TODD, OF SNOQUALMIE, WASHINGTON.

AUTOMATIC LIGHTER FOR STOVES.

Application filed March 30, 1927.

rllhis invention relates to improvements in fire lighting devices, and particularly to a device adapted for lighting a lire in a stove. llt is the principal object of this invention to c provide a lire lighting device that is designed particularly for use with a kitchen range or stove and which embodies means for holding matches and other mea-ns whereby the matches may be struck and lighted 1n and then extended into the position for lighting the fire. A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a device as i above stated which may be released by a connection with an alarm clock, or the like, so that a fire may be started at any desired time for which the clock may be set.

Other objects lof the invention reside in vthe various details of construction and combination of parts as is hereinafter described.

In accomplishing` these and other objects of the invention, I have provided the improved details of construction, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view of af ire lighting device embodied by this invention, showing it in set position. 1

Figure 2 is a top view of the same.

Figure 3 is a side elevation, illustrating the manner of attaching the device to a stove and showing the parts in the position they assume after being released by the clock.

Figure l is a transverse, sectional detail taken onthe line t-t in Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the end portion of the match carrying plunge-r.

Referring more in detail to the drawu ings- 1 designates what may bea flat metal plate forming the base of the device. This is disposed horizontally in orderthat it may serve as a support on which an alarm clock, or the like, as designated at 2 in Figure 3, may be supported and it is provided, at one edge, with two laterally extending prongs 3 and 4 adapted to project within the draft openings 5 in the side of the stove and to hook over the lower edges of these openings as a means of supporting the base plate horizontally and closely adjacent the side wall 6 of the stove. One of these prongs is adjustably attached to the plate so that it may be adjusted to openings that are spaced at various distances apart. A brace 7 is also attached to the base 1 for engaging the side Wall of the stove to Serial No. 179,562.

supplement the prongs 3 and 4 in supporting the base.

Fixed along one edge of the base 1 is a straight, horizontally extending tube 8 that extends beyond the base and through one of the draft openings 5, with its inner end terminating at a point directly beneath the grate of the stove in which the fuel for a ire is laid. This tube is fixed to the base by means of an encircling clip 9, as shown in Figure 2.

Slidably contained in the outer end of the tube is a plunger 10 that is provided at its inner end with sockets 11 in which matches, as shown at 12 in F igure2, may be held and, at its outer end, has a clip 13 fixed thereto. Coiled springs lt are attached to this'clip and to laterally extending ears 15 formed on the clip 9, for the purpose of drawing the plunger through the tube. j

Formed in the tube 8, just forwardly of the clip 9, is a transverse slot 18 through which one end of an elongated match striking plate 19 is projected. This plate has one face roughened, as shown at 20 in Figure a, and against this roughened face the heads of matches held by the plunger may rest and, at its outer end, it is attached to one end of a coiled spring 22. The spring 22 is connected, at its outer end, to an upstaniding ear 23 at the edge of the plate 1 and is held under tension so as to pull the plate outwardly from the slot when it is released.

When the parts are in set position, the plate 19 is held in the slot of the tube by means of a stop 24: that is turned up from the base in position to engage with an opposedly facing shoulder 25 that is formed in the lower edge of the plate, and, in order to release the shoulder from the stop so that the spring may pull the plate from the tube, I have provided a trigger, or release bar, 26 which extends beneath the plate closely adjacent the shoulder and is pivotally attached at one end to the base, as at 27, and at its other end is adapted to be connected by means of a cord 28 to the winding stem 29 of an alarm clock, or the like, as indicated at 2.

In using the device the tube 8 is projected through one of the draft openings of the stove so that its inner end is disposed closely adjacent the under side of the grate on which the fuel to be lighted is placed. The prongs 3 and 4 are hooked `over the lower striking plate 19 is then projected through.

vreleasing it 'from lthe said Lisi edges of the draft openings and the brace bar seated against thevside Wall of: the stove so that the base plate will be held in horizontal position; the plunger 10 is then Withdrawn and the matches 12 are mounted in the sockets oi its inner end. rEhe match the slot 18 of the tube 8 and its shoulder is seated against the stop so that it; will be held against the tension ot the spring 22. 'Ehe plunger then projected into the tube so that the heads of the matches engage with ther plate thereby holding the plunger in extended position, shown in Figure 2, against the tension ot the spring 14. The clock 2, which is used to release tac device, after being set to operate the alarm n'ieclianism at a certain predetermined lime, is then placed on the base plate 1 and the cord 28-is attached to the outer end et the trigger member and to the alarm windingstem ol the clock;` At the predeterniined. time at which the alarm is set, thefcord QS will be drawn in by winding ot the stem Q9 oi? the clock and this will pull upwardly on the trigger tofthereby unseat the shoulder or the striking plate from the slop which holds it: and the spring 22 will draw the plate quickly from the tube. The fr ictional contact ot' the ronghened surface ot the plate drawn quickly across the heads of the matchesy causes them to be lightedv and removal of' the plate 'from the tube bermits the plunger to be drawn in iardly by the tensioniol the springs 1d so that the matches will'beprojectcd 'from the inner end ot the tube/1l in position ttor lighting the lire, the inv-Jard? movement of theplunger being lim A ited bythe restricted inner endV portion of v the tube. f

Such devices may be made in various shapeasizes in accordance with the use to which they are to be put and it is readily apparent that various details ot construction may be altered to meet the requiren'ients Without departing trom the spirit ot the invention.

Havingl thus `described my invention, what l claim as`v newtherein andv desire to secure by Letters-Patent, lis

1'. A device of the character described com-prisiiig a support, a tube on the support, amatch'holder movable in the'tube, a mulch striker in the tube adapted to be engaged by "matches in the holder and whereby said matches will be struck incidental' to its withdrawal from the tube, means tor normally retaining` the striker 1n the tube, means tor and means tor actuz'itiug the match holder as the striker' is removed "from the tube to canse the matches to be projected from the tube.

retaining means4 :incassa 2. A device of the character described comprising a supportingr plate, aA tube on the plate, match holding means slidable in the tube, a match striking plate removably disposed in the tube and adapted to be engaged by matches held in the holding means and. whereby, Said matches will be struck by Withdrawal of the plate, means operable by withdrawal oi' the plate for actuating the match holding means within the tube to cause the struck matches to be extended lrom the end ot the tube, means normally holding the plate in the lube and means for releasing the plate trom its holding means. il device oll the character described comprising a, supportii'ig plate, a tube :tixedon the-plate, amatch striking plate extended through the tube and having a. shoulder thereon, astop on the base adapted to be engaged by the shoulder, a spring attached' to the striking plate and to the base where,n by the striking plate will be removed from the tube when the shoulder thereon is rcleased trom the stop, amalch holding plunger slidable in the tube and whereby matches will be held against the striking plate, a trigger movable to release the striking plate from the stop and a spring attached to the plunger whereby the latter will be actuated when the striking plate is removed to cause the struck matches tobe projected 'from the end ol the tube.

4l. A. device ot the character described comprising a supporting plate l'or :n clock or the like, means 'for attaching theplate to astove, a tube mounted on the plate and* adapted tor extensionV within the stove and having an open inner end, a. match striking plate extended through the tube and having a roughened surface and having a shoulder, a stop on the base plate adapted to engagel the shoulder to retain the plate within the tube, a spring attached` to the base and to the striking plate for ren'lovingl the latter trom the tube when the shoulder is released from the stop, aplunger slidably contained in the tube provided with match holding means at its inner end whereby the matches will be held in Contact with the roughened sur'liace of the striking plate and whereby they will be struck by withdrawal 'of thev plate trom the tube, a. trigger` adapted for connection with a clock supported on the base for releasing the striking plate from itsstop and a spring attached-to the plunger. whereby the struck matches will be projectedirom4 the end ot the tube when-the striking plate is removed.

Signed at Seattle, lllashington this 21st day of February 1927.

GEORGE M. TODD. 

